Arresting officers provide statements in Freddie Gray death

(CNN)Five of the six officers suspended with pay after their parts in arresting Freddie Gray have provided statements to investigators, the Baltimore Police Department said Wednesday.

The department will not release personnel records or photos because doing so would violate the law, the police said in a statement.

“They have completely cooperated with the investigation from Day 1,” Michael Davey, an attorney for the officers involved, told reporters.

He defended their interactions with Gray, and said that police did not need probable cause to arrest.

“There is a Supreme Court case that states that if you are in a high-crime area, and you flee from the police unprovoked, the police have the legal ability to pursue you, and that’s what they did,” he said. “In this type of an incident, you do not need probable cause to arrest. You just need a reasonable suspicion to make the stop.”

The department released the officers’ names earlier: Lt. Brian Rice, 41, who joined the department in 1997; Officer Caesar Goodson, 45, who joined in 1999; Sgt. Alicia White, 30, who joined in 2010; Officer William Porter, 25, who joined in 2012; Officer Garrett Miller, 26, who joined in 2012; and Officer Edward Nero, 29, who joined in 2012.

Of the six officers, three were on bikes and initially approached Gray, another made eye contact with Gray, another officer joined in the arrest after it was initiated and one drove the police van, Capt. Eric Kowalczyk said.

Another person, who was inside the prisoner transport van carrying Gray, is a witness in a criminal investigation, so his name won’t be released, police said.

“The investigation, as it stands, will be turned over to the State’s Attorney’s Office for review on May 1, 2015,” the statement said. “As with any criminal investigation, detectives will continue to pursue the evidence wherever it leads, for as long as it takes.”

Protests continueThe emotions are raw and protests are growing in Baltimore, where a community wants answers in the Gray’s death.

As protesters chanted, “No justice, no peace!” Tuesday evening, Gray’s distraught mother, Gloria Darden, collapsed in tears at the spot where her son was arrested this month. She was whisked away.

Gray, a 25-year-old black man, died of a spinal injury on Sunday, one week after he was taken into custody.

The demonstrations are gaining momentum. The crowd was back late Wednesday, and on Thursday, a rally is planned in front of City Hall.

“We won’t stop,” one man said Tuesday. “We have the power and, of course, today shows we have the numbers.”

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she understands where the protesters are coming from. She understands their frustration.

“Mr. Gray’s family deserves justice, and our community deserves an opportunity to heal, to get better and to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again,” she said.

But not everyone is pleased by the presence of protesters. A statement from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 compared the demonstrations to a “lynch mob.”

“While we appreciate the right of our citizens to protest and applaud the fact that, to date, the protests have been peaceful, we are very concerned about the rhetoric of the protests. In fact, the images seen on television look and sound much like a lynch mob in that they are calling for the immediate imprisonment of these officers without them ever receiving the due process that is the constitutional right of every citizen, including law enforcement officers,” it read.

Feds getting involved
The increasing public pressure comes as the Department of Justice announced it was opening an investigation into the case.

A spokesman said the agency is investigating whether Gray’s civil rights were violated during the April 12 arrest.

An autopsy found that Gray died from a spinal cord injury, but Baltimore Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez told reporters Monday that there is no indication how the injury occurred.